


Not Yet

by d0nquix0te



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Father-Son Relationship, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-30
Updated: 2014-03-30
Packaged: 2018-01-17 12:27:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,901
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1387570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/d0nquix0te/pseuds/d0nquix0te
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Three people who've lost their families make a family of their own.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Not Yet

Two weeks _after_ , Chris is no longer surprised when he comes home and the apartment isn’t as empty as it should be, now that he’s lost his entire family. He’s the last of the hunters in Beacon Hills and as long as there’s nothing to be hunted anymore, he shouldn’t expect anyone. He should expect to keep working his day job and come home to an empty apartment but instead, he comes home to Isaac. 

The first night it happens, only two nights _after_ , he nearly trips over Isaac as soon as he steps in through the front door. It’s dark and late and the teenager is sitting on the floor of the hallway, back slumped against the wall as he sleeps. Chris sighs tiredly and crouches down so he can shake Isaac awake and help him towards a comfortable surface. Isaac lets him do it with minimal resistance and the next time he shows up at night, he goes right into the living room instead of curling up in the hall. 

Other times, Isaac comes over after school and Chris is already home because of his fluid work hours. There may be more times he isn’t aware of, when he doesn’t arrive home until Isaac has already come and gone, but Chris can’t find it in himself to feel bothered by that or how Isaac has the code to the alarm system. Isaac never says anything, he mostly just sits in Chris’ presence while he loses himself in thought. 

It’s during one of the afternoon visits, the day after Allison’s funeral, when Isaac starts talking to him. He tells Chris, “Lacrosse tryouts are tomorrow but I can’t decide if I want to go.”

“Why wouldn’t you?” Chris asks him. “Scott will be there, won’t he?”

Isaac shrugs, gaze unfocused as he answers. “Yeah. It’s just hard to think about… about high school sports when…”

“Hey.” Chris waits until Isaac looks up in surprise at his firm tone and meets his eyes, until he knows he has his full attention. “You’re still a teenager, still in high school. You can’t abandon the normal things because you’ve been exposed to the world of supernatural things. You don’t shut down. You keep living your life.”

Chris can read pain in Isaac’s expression and knows they’re both thinking of Allison, who will never get to finish high school. Neither of them needs to say it, they both know. Half an hour later, Isaac finally says, “I’ll go to tryouts.”

When he leaves a little while after that, Chris calls after him, “Let me know how they go.”

The time Chris wakes up to the sound of stifled crying, he wants to pretend he didn’t hear and just fall back to sleep. Neither of them has shown raw emotion in front of each other since the night they lost Allison and Chris isn’t sure if Isaac would want him to see it now. He knows his own preference is to keep the compartmentalized section of his mind firmly shut, but Isaac doesn’t necessarily work the same way. 

He gets out of bed, rubbing sleep from his eyes as he moves through the dark. Isaac is standing in the doorway of Allison’s bedroom, one hand gripping his hair and the other covering his mouth to muffle the sounds of his distress. Chris knows Isaac can hear him approaching but he doesn’t move, doesn’t shy away. He continues to stand there until Chris pulls him into his arms and hugs him tight, letting him cry into his shoulder. 

He knows Isaac spent a lot of time in his daughter’s bedroom, had stayed overnight at least a couple times. He wonders if Isaac can still smell her, smell them. He doesn’t ask. 

After, it no longer surprises Chris to find Isaac in the apartment at odd times. When he comes home and finds Isaac sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee in his hands and a second cup across from him, he doesn’t think twice about it. “Hi,” Isaac greets as Chris shoulders out of his jacket and comes into the room. “Uh, it’s probably not very hot anymore, but,” he gestures at the second cup. 

“That’s fine,” Chris replies, sitting down and taking a drink. It hardly even counts as lukewarm anymore and that makes it difficult to swallow but Chris does it anyway, because Isaac brought it for him. He forces a bit more of it down before setting the cup back on the table. “Heard about lacrosse tryouts yet?”

“Yeah, we all did well. Even Stiles will get some field time this season. Guess running around town with werewolves does have its few advantages.” He’s joking, but there’s an undercurrent of sorrow in his voice all the same. 

Chris forces out a small smile, mostly out of politeness. He’s unaccustomed to conversations like these. When he and Allison were less close, she didn’t tell him much about her school life, probably as a passive aggressive protest against moving so often, and then after that they mostly talked about the supernatural threat of the day, about weapons and codes and all the things Chris could teach her that she wouldn’t end up getting to learn. But this feels like the kind of conversation Isaac needs to be having right now and Chris thinks it might be good for both of them. 

“Thanks for convincing me not to drop it,” Isaac adds, eyes downcast and trained on his coffee. “It takes Scott’s mind off things. And Stiles seems thrilled to be doing something normal again, like a regular high school student.”

This time when Chris smiles it feel more genuine because when Isaac talks about his friends he’s also talking a bit about himself and it’s important that they all find their outlets, find a way to take a break from everything else. “Glad to hear it,” he says. “Just make sure you and Scott don’t overdo it on the field. No unnecessary acrobatics, okay?”

Isaac looks amused as he nods. “Yes, sir.”

The first game of the season comes up quick and Chris knows the date because Isaac told him. At the time, it had felt like just another detail of their conversation. Isaac had mentioned it while working on math equations at one end of the coffee table while Chris had been cleaning his pistols at the other end. It hadn’t been a big deal. Now that the game is only an hour away, though, it feels like more. Like an invitation. 

Allison had always been seated beside him whenever he went to the Beacon Hills lacrosse games. Kate had gone with him once, as had Gerard after her. Chris has never gone alone and never expected to go alone. There’s no reason for the father of a former student who wasn’t even a member of the team to keep attending games. 

Chris goes. The only jersey number he remembers is Scott’s, but Isaac is easy to find. The two of them are the most coordinated players on the team. Chris notices Derek standing in the space between two stands of bleachers, watching silently with his hands in the pockets of his leather jacket. He looks as out of place as Chris feels and there’s no point denying they have an understanding, maybe even a partnership, so Chris goes over and stands with him. They don’t talk but it feels comfortable. 

At halftime, Derek turns towards him and gives him a contemplative look. “So that’s where Isaac’s been disappearing to.”

“Disappearing?” Chris repeats, brows furrowed. Isaac never stays longer than a couple hours unless he falls asleep and Chris had never assumed that the pack was missing him. 

“He doesn’t tell Scott where he’s going. Scott’s been worried about him.” Derek doesn’t look angry or even particularly startled, like Isaac spending time with an Argent isn’t something to be concerned about. It _isn’t_ anything to be concerned about but Chris doesn’t expect a werewolf who’s been wronged by Argents as much as Derek Hale has been to agree. 

Chris tells him, “I can’t explain to you why he does it because only he knows that. Sometimes he does homework and talks about something Deaton taught him at the clinic, sometimes he just sits quietly for a while and leaves without saying a thing. For whatever reason, that’s what he needs right now and I promise you, Derek, he’s safe in my home, I wouldn’t-"

“I know,” Derek interrupts, his tone hard and sincere. “And Scott knows. He’ll be relieved.” 

That’s more than Chris feels like he deserves but then again, Scott is the type to have faith in people, werewolf and hunter alike. Maybe they’ve fought on the same side long enough for it to mean something and Chris is just the last to realize, the last to remember he’s allowed to trust others. 

They don’t talk after that and Isaac doesn’t make an appearance at the apartment that night. Chris is glad, not because he doesn’t want Isaac around but because it’s better for him to celebrate the win with his teammates, like a normal high school student would. 

Isaac does show up a few days later, though, looking a little less tired and a little more straight-backed. He brings coffee with him and this time Chris gets to enjoy it scalding hot the way he likes it. 

“Thanks for coming to the game,” Isaac says after they’ve sat together for a couple minutes. “I noticed you and Derek lurking in the shadows of the bleachers.”

“I’d rather stand than sit on those cold, metal benches,” Chris defends.

Isaac huffs out a laugh, the happiest and most relaxed Chris has seen him since the night at Oak Creek. “They’re pretty terrible; I guess I don’t blame you.”

They order take out and eat dinner together for the first time. It’s a little awkward at first and Isaac looks like he regrets agreeing to stay for a meal, like it isn’t something he should be allowed to do when he’s there on his own instead of as Allison’s sort of boyfriend, but they settle into it like they’ve settled into each other’s lives. 

Isaac ends up staying so late that he falls asleep on the couch with the television on. Chris watches him for a bit, wishing he could offer him somewhere better, but the only other bed is Allison’s, in Allison’s bedroom, and Chris knows that’s not a good idea. No matter how much time Isaac has to heal, Chris isn’t sure that would ever be a good idea. So all he can do is cover Isaac with a blanket, turn the television off, and leave him there on the couch. If he’s willing to sleep there instead of a bed at Scott’s, or maybe even Derek’s, then Chris doesn’t mind letting him. 

Chris doesn’t see Isaac for an entire week. He considers many possibilities, that he’s moved on enough not to need their time together anymore or that he and Scott have found support in each other because Scott lost Allison just as much as he and Isaac did, or maybe some other reason. It isn’t until there’s an urgent knock on his apartment door one early morning that he entertains a worse conclusion. 

It’s Derek at the door. His jaw is clenched and his eyes are dark. He doesn’t waste time getting to the point. “Have you seen Isaac?”

“No,” Chris tells him. “He hasn’t been here in a week, unless he came by while I wasn’t home. How long?”

At Chris’ answer, Derek becomes even more tense. “He caught a bus after school yesterday and Scott assumed he was coming here but no one’s seen him since. He isn’t at school or at Scott’s and he isn’t answering his phone.”

Chris takes a long, deep breath and steps back from the door to let Derek come inside where they’re less likely to be heard by the neighbours. He checks his watch. “So he’s been M.I.A for roughly sixteen hours. Isn’t there somewhere else he would go to stay the night?”

“Not that we know of,” Derek says. “I don’t think he’s close enough to anyone else.”

Chris thinks for a moment. “When you call him, does it ring or go straight to voicemail?”

“Scott never said,” Derek answers as he pulls his own phone out. He calls Isaac’s number and switches to speaker phone so Chris can hear. It rings once but then Isaac’s voicemail message kicks in, cutting it off. Derek looks up at him, waiting for an explanation about what this means but Chris is already walking away to get his jacket. He’s ready to go in under a minute and gestures for Derek to follow. 

“You think you know where he is?” Derek finally asks when they’re in Chris’ car and pulling out of the apartment complex parking lot. 

“I think so, yes. Can you text Scott to let him know we have a lead and we’ll keep him posted?” He keeps his eyes on the road while Derek types out the quick message and then continues when Derek looks up again. “I’ve never seen him use his phone while at the apartment. He turns it off.”

“But he’s not at your apartment.”

Chris shakes his head. “It isn’t about the apartment, it’s about Allison.”

Derek looks away, but Chris can see a flash of concern on his face before they both look back at the road. He doesn't bother trying to reassure him because he suspects Derek won’t relax until he can see Isaac safe with his own two eyes. They drive in silence the rest of the way out to Oak Creek. 

As soon as they step out of the vehicle, Derek says, “He’s here,” and nods in the direction Chris is already headed. 

There are no signs of the fight left, no blood, bullets, or arrowheads. Chris had swept the area like he’d been trained to do as a teenager so that the mundane story they fed to the police will hold. There’s no evidence to suggest anything else happened. 

Isaac is leaning against the gate that Scott watched it all happen from, the same gate where Chris had gone over their story with him. Derek becomes a silent shadow a few steps behind him as Chris walks over. 

“I didn’t mean to be gone so long,” Isaac whispers before Chris even has a chance to say anything. “Sorry.”

His eyes are fixed on the exact spot where Allison was stabbed. Chris steps into his line of sight and Isaac starts, blinking and then looking up at him instead. “Need more time or are you ready to go?” Chris asks him. 

Pushing himself away from the gate, Isaac steps forward until he’s an arm’s length away from Chris and then he hesitates. “Ready to go, I guess.”

Chris loops an arm around Isaac’s shoulders to lead him back to the car but halfway through it turns into a hug. Isaac clutches the back of his jacket and lets out a shaky breath as they hold onto each other and Chris finds his own eyes starting to well with the tears he still hasn’t allowed himself to shed. He gets a handle of his emotions easily enough, aware that as empty as Oak Creek is, they’re still in a public place. When they start to pull away, Chris hears Derek talking to Scott on his phone, explaining that they’ve found Isaac and they’re coming home, though he doesn’t mention where they are. 

Back at the car, Derek climbs into the backseat with Isaac so he isn’t sitting alone and when Chris looks up at them through the rear-view mirror a few minutes later, Derek has a hand on the back of Isaac’s neck, his thumb rubbing slow circles at the bottom of his hairline. Isaac’s eyes are closed and he looks relaxed enough to fall asleep while still sitting up. 

Chris hates to break it, but he has to ask, “Where do you want to go now?”

Isaac’s eyes open slowly and he sighs as he looks at the clock on the dashboard. There’s still several hours left to the school day but it’s clear he hasn’t slept and going to class is the furthest thing from his mind. “I don’t think I’m ready to answer Scott’s questions.”

Chris nods his understanding and drives back to the apartment. In the parking lot, he can tell Derek is about to step away when he thinks neither of them are paying attention so he pats him on the shoulder and directs him into the building. “Come upstairs with us.”

“It’s fine,” Derek tries to argue even as he lets himself be herded to the elevator. Chris shakes his head but fails to hold back a small, fond smile. 

They get Isaac to agree to a bowl of cereal before he inevitably crashes on the living room couch. Chris turns the lamp off and he and Derek move into the kitchen together. 

Derek clears his throat awkwardly before speaking. “If he still doesn’t want to talk to Scott later, he can stay at the loft. Peter hangs around sometimes but other than him, it’s just me, and Isaac is used to Peter lurking by now anyway.”

“You could stay and tell him that yourself, if you want.”

Derek’s eyebrows furrow in confusion. “Stay?”

“I have a meeting with an independent client in about forty minutes. You could be here in case he wakes up before I get back.”

With a quick glance towards the living room and a slight nod, Derek easily agrees to this. By the time Chris is ready to leave for his meeting, Derek has taken a seat in the armchair next to where Isaac lays on the couch and the tension in his shoulders seems to be unraveling at last. 

A couple hours later Chris comes home and is unsurprised to find not only Isaac still out on the couch, but Derek asleep as well. Chris smiles softly to himself and leaves them to rest. 

 

A week after bringing Isaac home from Oak Creek, and a month since Allison’s death, Derek shows up once again. Isaac sleeps on the living room couch more often than not now, but when Chris opens the front door to find Derek waiting there, it’s just the two of them. He has little doubt that Derek’s done it on purpose. 

“Come on in.”

Wordlessly, Derek follows him into the quiet apartment, down the hall to the office. It’s late evening, the time of day Chris finds it most difficult to hold himself together. Too late to find distraction but not quite late enough for sleep. 

“Can I get you anything?”

Derek shakes his head. He’s breathing so evenly that it’s obvious he’s regulating himself, keeping some kind of emotion at bay. If this were about Isaac, there would be no hesitance, so it’s something else. Chris prepares himself for the worst, assumes there’s a new big bad in town already for them to deal with before they’ve even recovered from the last one, but nothing can prepare him for Derek’s actual words. 

Expression tight, Derek asks, “How… Are you doing okay?”

Chris stares at him blankly, a dark feeling beginning to roll under his skin. “That’s what you’re here for?” he asks incredulously. He means for this to deter Derek, but instead the werewolf actually relaxes a fraction, like this is the kind of response he’s comfortable with. “Go home, Derek,” he says with a sigh. 

“No, not yet.” 

Derek is still standing in the doorway of the room, blocking it with his broad shoulders as he crosses his arms defensively. Chris could get past him if he put his mind to it, but he isn’t sure he can put his mind to anything right now. “I’m fine, Derek. You can go home.”

This doesn’t deter Derek either. Instead he looks a little exasperated before he can cover it up. He slowly leans to the side so he’s resting against the doorframe, a more casual stance. “I wouldn’t talk to Laura, after the fire,” he says. “She tried so hard to talk it out with me and I wouldn’t let her.”

“Derek…”

“She needed it as much as I did. You need it as much as Isaac does.”

Chris jerks back as if physically stung, eyes hard when he meets Derek’s unrelenting gaze. He opens his mouth to reply but Derek forges on. 

“If you don’t want to talk to Isaac, I get it. He’s young, and healing enough as it is. But you can’t keep it inside forever. It won’t do you any good.”

In the silence after, Chris deflates. He understands all too well how much personal experience Derek has with grief, with losing an entire family. Derek understands, but that doesn’t make Chris more willing to open up. Letting himself open up while a threat could present itself at any time would be like going into a battle with an open and festering wound. As a hunter, and especially an Argent, he can’t afford weakness. He was taught to never be vulnerable. 

“I’m fine,” he repeats, and even to his own ears it sounds like a lie. He waits for Derek to call him out, say that his heartbeat jumped, but the accusation never comes. 

“It’s okay not to be,” Derek says softly. 

Chris’ chest clenches. “Not yet.”

Derek nods. “Okay. Not yet.”

He sticks around for a while before letting himself out again. Chris isn’t sure why he does it but he doesn’t mind. 

The next few days are quiet and now that Chris expects Isaac to be around several times a week, it’s odd when he isn’t. When Isaac isn’t there, the apartment feels too empty again and somehow all the space is suffocating. He thinks a lot about moving to a new apartment, to a place Allison never lived, but that wouldn’t make the empty space any less stifling. If he moves, Isaac might not keep showing up so readily. He doesn’t want to risk harming this careful thing they’ve constructed, and maybe the apartment is an important part of it, even if Isaac hasn’t stepped foot into Allison’s old room in a month. 

The next day, Isaac comes over after school. Chris is sitting in the living room with an old, crumbling book about kitsune. He doesn’t consider the Yukimura family a threat but it doesn’t hurt to be prepared, and a trapped nogitsune is still a nogitsune that can cause them more trouble in the future. Isaac sits down on the floor in front of the coffee table and pulls out his homework. 

They each work in silence until Isaac sets his pencil down and looks up at him. “Our next home game is tomorrow. Are you and Derek going to come again?”

“I was planning on it,” Chris answers. “I can’t say for Derek. I don’t see why not, though.”

Isaac keeps looking at him for a moment before he smiles and Chris can’t tell what’s on his mind. 

“Scott and I talked,” he continues, though he looks back down at this notebook while he says it like he’s nervous to bring up something more personal than school or lacrosse. “It’s less awkward now. It’s good, actually.”

This explains why Isaac hasn’t been around as much. “Good. And how is Stiles doing?”

“Better. Scott barely ever lets him out of his sight but Stiles never complains about it. He always smells like anxiety, though.”

Chris makes a noncommittal noise in response. He isn’t particularly worried about Stiles, not when he has Scott for a best friend and a good pack around him. He’s more concerned about possible side effects, residual things. Exorcising a nogitsune is difficult enough even without it and the host splitting into separate entities. But nothing has come of it and maybe Chris is grasping at straws for distractions. 

Isaac moves onto other topics, like how he’s officially employed at Deaton’s now and it makes him feel independent, like he’s getting more control of his own life. Chris imagines the stability is good for him. 

They have a laid-back evening together, watching pointless television and chatting through commercials. Chris starts to think that everything is balancing, that Isaac will be okay and this will become their new norm and it’ll be good. 

Maybe that thought makes him let his guard down a little but there’s no real trigger, no milestone or memory that comes to mind unexpectedly. Chris just wakes up the next morning feeling like a clip of bullets has been emptied into his chest. He lies on his back in bed, squinting through the early sunlight coming in through the window blinds and tries to file it away again, like he’s done for the past two months. 

He misses her so much. He misses their quiet routines and he misses her smile, the way she could switch modes to weapon-wielding leader seamlessly when the situation required it and the way she would hug him after a training session. He wishes he could tell her over and over how proud he is of her too because that isn’t something a parent tires of saying. 

The bedroom door opens and Chris remembers that Isaac stayed the night before. He’s still in the clothes he sleeps in and his curls are in tangles but the concern in his eyes makes him look acutely awake. When he sees there's no danger, he starts to look confused. “Your heartbeat…” he mutters like he’s already beginning to doubt his own senses. 

As much as Chris would like to tell Isaac he imagined it, he can’t do that, not after the time they’ve spent together. “I’m fine,” he says, voice strained. “Don’t worry, I’ll be fine. Get to school.”

Isaac hesitates, not reassured in the slightest. His expression becomes less panicked and more like understanding and heartbreak, and Chris has to look away. As he sits up, he hears Isaac’s footsteps disappearing down the hall and he breathes a sigh of relief. 

Normally he likes spending the mornings with Isaac, sharing the kitchen space for a brief time before Isaac is hurrying off to catch the bus. He gets awkward when Chris offers to drive him to school so Chris has learnt to enjoy the few minutes they do have. This morning, he gets in the shower instead. 

Hot showers usually make him feel better after a fight that has left him sore or injured, but this kind of pain doesn’t ease under warm temperatures. If anything, it’s the sound of the cascading water all around him that helps, making him feel like he’s cut off from the world for just a little while, but it can’t last. 

Chris expects Isaac to be gone already but in the quiet after turning the shower off, he can hear a plate being set in the kitchen sink, the sound carrying through the small apartment. It makes Chris feel nervous and comforted in equal parts. 

He gets dressed but doesn’t bother to shave, and forces himself to head down the hall and face Isaac. “Haven’t caught your bus? Want me to drive you today?”

Isaac blinks at him from where he’s leaning against the kitchen counter. “No, I’m not going to school,” he says with a tone of strong defiance that reminds Chris so much of Allison that the ache in his chest somehow amplifies. 

“Somewhere else then?” Chris replies, equally stubborn. 

A knock at the door interrupts their budding face-off. 

Chris shouldn’t be surprised to find Derek standing in the outside hallway. With a sigh, he lets him in. “What are you doing here?” he asks, not unkindly. 

Derek looks over Chris' shoulder, making him turn to follow his gaze. Isaac is watching them from the kitchen entrance, looking suddenly sheepish, but his jaw is still set in determination. 

Chris can tell quite clearly he won’t be escaping this. Not this time. With another resigned sigh, he walks away from them, into the living room where he sits down on the couch. By the time Isaac and Derek have followed him, he’s leaned forward, elbows on his knees and hands over his face, and he’s so tired. “I’m not interested in talking,” he tells them gruffly. 

Fittingly, neither of them say anything as they sit down on either side of him. Isaac moves close, pressing their sides together so that it’s impossible for Chris to forget he’s still there. When they make no move to force words out of him, Chris lets himself focus on his breathing, in and out, even and calm. He has to get himself together. 

“Stop,” Derek admonishes suddenly. “Stop pushing it back.”

“I’m not, I’m _dealing_ with it--”

“You aren’t,” Derek insists. 

Chris pulls his hands away from his face to curl them into fists instead, in an effort to make them steady. No matter how tight he squeezes, he can still feel them shake. “This is how I deal. I’m a soldier; I do what’s necessary and move on.”

While Derek’s voice is firm to the point of sounding angry, Isaac’s is surprisingly soft. “You don’t just move on from family,” he says.

A harsh tremble runs down Chris’ back and then he starts to cry. 

The next time Chris feels completely conscious and aware, he’s waking up in bed for the second time that day. The afternoon light is easier to open his sore eyes to and despite the mess of a morning he had, he feels calmer. He thinks of Isaac and Derek, sitting with him, supporting him, and telling him it's okay to rest, and he feels grateful. 

He can hear quiet talking down the hall and knows they’re both still there. Getting up, Chris follows the noise back into the living room, unsure of how he should act in front of them now but unafraid to figure it out as he goes. 

They look up when he comes into the room and Isaac smiles up at him from the floor in front of the coffee table before quickly dispelling any of Chris’ worries about awkward silences by saying, “Derek is helping me with my English essay. Turns out he’s a total nerd.” 

“I’m not a nerd,” Derek growls at him, without any real anger. “I played basketball in high school--”

“Don’t stereotype. You can play basketball and still be a huge nerd.”

Derek only lets out an annoyed huff in response. 

Chuckling at their banter and sitting down on the couch behind them feels like the easiest thing Chris has done in a while. Derek leans over until his back is against Chris’ leg. It’s an intimate gesture and it makes Chris feel light. 

Isaac has to pack up and leave eventually, because while the outside world feels oddly far away, he still has a lacrosse practice before the game later and if he ditches it, Coach might bench him in annoyance. Derek stays though, and they end up making dinner together when Derek offers to do it himself and Chris refuses to be doted upon just because he’s finally letting himself grieve. 

Chris never expected it, but Derek’s a good cook. He can smell when meat is done cooking and he can hear when water is about to reach boiling point. They don’t get in each other’s way even though the apartment kitchen is so small, and Chris thinks about Monday night dinners with Allison, when they made sure they always ate together no matter what supernatural threats were going on. It hurts, but he lets it, and after a moment it dissipates when Derek distracts him by asking if he has some kind of spice Chris hasn’t even heard of. 

They go to the lacrosse game together and when Chris asks if they should actually find seats this time, Derek makes some motion halfway between a nod and a shrug and Chris finds it oddly endearing. He smiles as he finds them a good spot to watch the game from.

Ms. McCall and Sheriff Stilinski show up barely a minute later. 

“Hey, there,” the Sheriff greets them with a nod. “It’s good to see you two here.”

Ms. McCall smiles at them both as she sits down on Chris’ other side. “The boys appreciate it even though they like to pretend they don’t care either way, sometimes.”

“Wouldn’t miss it,” Chris replies on autopilot. There’s no reason to be tense around either of them, now that they’re all on the same page when it comes to werewolves and they’ve even started working together, but Chris tenses anyway. The two of them know about Allison, they know the real story, and they know what it’s like to be the parent of a teenager in a wolf pack. They don’t look at him with sympathy or pity, but Chris imagines them thinking it anyway. 

A large hand grips his forearm. Derek’s shoulder is pressed against his own and his hand is steady and warm. Chris takes a deep breath, relaxes under the contact, and is saved from having to make further conversation by the game starting. 

It’s a good game. The kid in goal doesn’t let a single throw get past him and it sounds like the Coach is delivering an enthusiastic victory speech even though no one’s paying him any close attention as they cheer and celebrate. 

Scott, Stiles, and Isaac still have grins on their faces when they come back out of the locker room, changed and with their bags slung over their shoulders. Kira, Lydia, and a girl Chris doesn’t immediately recognize join them and there’s a lot of excited, teenage chattering. 

Allison should be among them, but Chris thinks she would be glad to see them happy. 

“We’re going to hang out at Scott’s,” Isaac says, looking at both Chris and Derek in turn. 

“Sure,” Chris replies as he instinctively pulls him into a hug. “Have fun, okay?”

“We will.”

Isaac and Derek share a quick, one-armed hug too and then they part ways. Derek and Chris leave together just like they arrived together. Derek doesn’t switch over to his own vehicle and go home once they return to the apartment complex, and Chris didn’t really expect him to. 

“Derek,” Chris starts when they’ve locked the apartment door behind them. Derek looks over at him and Chris realizes he isn’t sure how to say what he wants to say. There aren’t words for how he doesn’t know why Derek is doing all this for him or to explain how things have changed between them, that it’s good and Chris needs it, or how Chris wants to give Derek what Derek has given him, not as a way to make them even but just because he wants to. 

Derek smiles, so softly it’s barely there. “I know,” he says. 

Chris steps forward, wrapping a hand around the back of Derek’s neck and bringing their foreheads together. For a minute they stand there together, listening to each other breathe. He thinks about moving even closer, going further, but he doesn't think he's ready for that.

"Not yet." He knows Derek will understand. "Soon."

Derek nods against his forehead. "Not yet."

“But stay here tonight,” Chris adds. 

Derek does.


End file.
